Petrochemical spill triggers mass evacuation in south California
The leakage of a petrochemical tank in southern California has prompted US fire officials to issue orders for the relocation of more than 44,000 people to temporary sheltering centers in neighboring cities.
In a press conference on Friday afternoon, the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) Chief, Craig Covey, said there were two potential outcomes from the leak of a container, the first being that the large tank holding an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 gallons of toxic and inflammable substance fails and spills “very bad chemicals” into the area surrounding the facility, resulting in huge environmental damage.
“Or two, the tank goes into a thermal runaway and blows up, affecting the tanks that are around it that have fuel or chemicals in them as well.”
“This is not precautionary,” he said. “This thing is going to fail, and we don’t know when... We’re doing our best to figure out when or how we can prevent it.”
Chief Covey said that the evacuation orders will remain in place as authorities try to mitigate the impact of the imminent disaster. The fire chief added that his firefighters had been able to successfully prevent further temperature increases of the tanks, which might blow up, sending toxic fumes into the sky over the heavily populated area.
A hazmat team has been working with field experts to find a way to depressurize the affected tank holding methyl methacrylate (MMA), a highly volatile and flammable petrochemical substance used in the production of plastic.
The leak was reported on Thursday in the city of Garden Grove, 60km southeast of Los Angeles. Three evacuation shelters, one in Garden Grove and one each in the neighboring cities of Anaheim and Cypress, have been established.
Until this date in the history of the petroleum industry, one of the worst environmental disasters has been the 2010 marine oil spill at the Deepwater Horizon rig off the coast of the United States.
The environmental impact of the oil spill was huge, endangering the lives of more than 400 animal species surrounding the rig.
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